Relevance
by G w E n Z i L L a
Summary: Before Joel and Ellie settle down in Jackson for good, they drop by Joel's old house. "In all the silence, she realized that this time, it was finally about him coming to terms with his past. It wasn't about her and it wasn't about finding a cure. She was okay about that."


**Summary: **Before Joel and Ellie settle down in Jackson for good, they drop by Joel's old house. "In all the silence, she realized that this time, it was finally about him coming to terms with his past. It wasn't about her and it wasn't about finding a cure. She was okay about that."

**Pardon my rusty writing skills. I have not written anything since I was 14. This is just an exercise. Lol.  
**

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"Home sweet home?" Ellie tried to lighten the mood. She knew no joke in her joke book would wash away Joel's feelings of nostalgia and quite frankly, she wasn't in the mood. The incident with the Fireflies was just plain suspicious, but she had to focus on something else right now. That will come up at a later time.

Texas was empty. A pack of stalkers, some clickers but nothing serious. There were no bloaters seen where they passed. It was a pretty decent car ride. Joel's former neighborhood was almost peaceful.

His old house was dark and the aura was cold. The weather in Texas itself was starting to getting hotter. It was the brink of summer after all. The windows were bashed and doors were broken in. Tommy broke into the house sometime ago, but no doubt it had been raided by others before. There was definitely currently no one there.

Joel didn't really notice any difference in what was taken from the first floor. He didn't care, there was really nothing to take except old canned food. He sunk in the familiarity. He watched Ellie look around at the dull red walls and the paintings that made it seem a tad bit brighter.

"Are you okay? You haven't said anything since we drove outta Austin," Ellie knew the silence would only add to the tension.

Joel sighed. "Yeah. It's just I never planned on coming back. I thought it would be best to steer clear and move on. But after you gave me that picture, I just thought about it. Coming back. . . just for closure."

"Oh. Well, it's a nice house. I've dreamed of living somewhere like this."

"It was good while it lasted, but some of the neighbors were assholes," Joel chuckled as he walked to the other side of the living room taking notice of his guitar. "I might bring that along. C'mon. Let's go upstairs," He motioned up.

Ellie followed him. She was careful not to touch anything or even do anything that could trigger a negative mood from Joel. She was aware she had sticky fingers. It was a sensitive time. In all the silence, she realized that this time, it was finally about him coming to terms with his past. It wasn't about her and it wasn't about finding a cure. She was okay with that.

The first room encountered after climbing up the stairs was Joel's. He huffed a breath before turning the doorknob.

"Heh. Raiders must've fucked really hard here," Ellie joked. The bed was unmade. Pillows were sprawled all out on the floor. ". . . or your room is just a clusterfuck of a mess."

Joel didn't know if someone was ever here. It didn't matter. He was never much of a bed maker anyway. "Pssht. Try hiring a maid on a construction worker's salary. Oh and being a single father at that."

Ellie stuck her tongue out at him playfully. She walked to his night stand and saw two picture frames, but only looked without all the touching. "Sarah was really cute." The picture was of a seven year old on a swing.

When Joel picked the frame up, he took its content out and put it in his pocket. "Yeah. She was real innocent, a good kid. If the soldier didn't catch us back then, I don't know what would've happened. I wouldn't want her in this world," He shook his head. The duo sat down on his bed.

"Who's this?" Ellie reached for the second frame.

The older man squinted. "Wow. That thing is old. That's me. I was 20 there. And Sarah's mom. And Sarah when she was two."

She observed the picture real well. Joel gave the Woman (1) a kiss while she was holding the toddler. The Woman was gorgeous – long, wavy blonde hair, gray eyes, nice body. They looked happy. "Oh."

No use in being closed off. Joel loved Ellie, she knew that. He had been more open since the winter. "We met in high school. Had Sarah at 18. Married at 19. We just didn't work. We wanted different things. She left when Sarah was 5."

Ellie took a second glance at the photo. Joel was attractive in his days, and he still is – in his charming Joel fashion. "Do you wanna take it?"

"No, just put it back," Joel showed no signs of bitterness in his voice. "C'mon. Let's go to Sarah's room. You can take some of her CDs if you want. She had tons."

"Oh, alright," Ellie didn't know whether to feel bad or be thankful.

Sarah's room . . . was nice, in a lack of words. It was just as messy as Joel's, but it was cute. Like father, like daughter. Ellie snickered quietly to herself. Why would she judge when she knows she would suck at keeping a tidy room? She quickly wondered what it would be like living with Joel in Jackson.

Sarah's stereo and CDs were right next to the door. Ellie looked at them and took what seemed interesting, while Joel took notice of the remaining pictures pinned to her wall.

When the girl walked up behind Joel, she fought back a laugh. "Is that Tommy? What a hunk. I wonder what he was like before Maria."

"He was some cassanova," He replied chuckling.

"A cassa-what?"

"He's had a lot of women way back when. Maria brings out the best of him. Even if she does seem like a bitch."

"She's okay, heh," Ellie looked at the floor. "Are you really okay with all this?"

Joel took in a breath. "I will be. You ready to go?"

"I am when you are," Ellie took notice of the stuffed giraffe next to the door as she was about to exit. Still being cautious, she didn't want to touch anything unless Joel was okay with it. "That's adorable."

"Won it for her when she forced me to go to some fair. I think you would've enjoyed it too."

"Maybe," She didn't care. She saw the real thing – those giraffes that needn't worry about the world. They didn't have much but whatever they experienced, Ellie was content.

When they got outside and entered the car, it was pretty silent for the first few minutes of the drive. Joel was pretty satisfied going back to his old home. He didn't need to take much. This trip just made him realize he didn't need anything, nothing but the girl sitting next to him in the front passenger seat. Ellie didn't know much of the world before the cordyceps outbreak. She didn't know what junk food tasted like, why it mattered so much which skirt went with what shirt, the importance of what boys thought of her. . . but that was okay. None of that was relevant to life today. What matters now is that she could hold her own. He was proud and looked over at her.

She might not be thinking about what happened at Salt Lake City now, but she'd later ask. He knows it.

Looking at the car's CD player, Ellie opened her bag when she remembered what Joel let her take. . . and the things Joel didn't know of. Not relevant.

"So. . . Who's this Justin Bieber?"

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**(1) **The Woman - give her any name you want. :p

**Eeek. Sorry it came off boring. Like I said, exercising. Hehe. **


End file.
